Rhyme & Reason
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Rhyme & Reason |
| Author(s): | Michael Demcio |
| Date(s): | Written for "over two years" according to Demcio until December 6, 1995; first released by Michael A. Crawley on alt.fan.disney.afternoon on April 17, 1996; exact release dates in W.T.F.B. and on the DAFT mailing list unknown, but the initial release of Part I most likely happened in 1993, not later |
| Length: | 158,492 words (longest CDRR fanfic before Gadget in Chains), nine parts |
| Genre: | "Mystery thriller" according to Demcio; Action/Adventure, Bob, Case fic, Future fic (clearly takes place after the show), Het, Hurt/Comfort, Mission Fic, Mystery, Torture, even less than Twenty-Four Hours to Live |
| Fandom: | Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers |
| External Links: | See External Links |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Rhyme & Reason is a Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers fanfic written by Michael Demcio and the very first CDRR fanfic ever written that was intended to be one.
There are no records as to when exactly the first of Rhyme & Reason's nine parts saw the light of day. What is known is that the Disney zine W.T.F.B. for which Rhyme & Reason was written was launched in December 1992 with issue #1[1], it came up with new issues "every 8 to 10 weeks"[2], Part VIII was published in W.T.F.B. issue #12 in July 1995[3], W.T.F.B. issue #15 came out in February 1996[4], and issue #24 came out in February 1998[5]. The exact publishing history of W.T.F.B. can be considered lost. Even supposing that, except for Part IX which may have been completed just in time for issue #14, all parts of Rhyme & Reason were published in subsequent W.T.F.B. issues, Part I must have been published in W.T.F.B. issue #5 from before 1994, thereby pre-dating the 1994 slash fic 9½ Chipmunks as the first CDRR fanfic intended to be a fanfic from the beginning. However, chances are that parts of Rhyme & Reason were published in even earlier W.T.F.B. issues, also since the fic didn't necessarily have a "fast lane" on the waitlist.
Either way, the story took "over two years" (Demcio) to be completed, and it was completed on December 6, 1995, so it's certain that writing started in 1993.
Rhyme & Reason was also published on the DAFT mailing list. When this happened remains completely unknown, but as it takes a while for a zine to be made, the DAFT releases may have pre-dated those in W.T.F.B.
The first general online release was not before April 17, 1996 when Michael A. Crawley started posting the first three parts on the newsgroup alt.fan.disney.afternoon.
The only fan-made story that was both written and published before Rhyme & Reason was Miami Munks by David Walker, but Miami Munks was intended to be a script for a season 4 episode and actually submitted to Disney but turned down because Disney doesn't accept fan content, and there wouldn't be a season 4 anyway. So Miami Munks was redefined a fanfic.
As Rhyme & Reason was written before any other fanfic was available (Miami Munks was kept free of typical fanfic traits), it is a rare preserved example what fanfic looks like when it's written without any influence by other fanfic.
It had been the longest Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers fanfic ever published for about a decade until Loneheart's Gadget in Chains overtook it, and still today, it is considered one of the very best fics from this fandom.
Rating
Due to some violence and some very emotionally intense scenes, Rhyme & Reason is rated high PG.
Title Reference
The title references to recurring elements of the story such as Ivana M. Killjoy's rhyming hints.
Continuity
Rhyme & Reason can stand alone, although Demcio later penned a lesser-known sequel, Soul Searching. It is not part of any particular Verse.
Synopsis
On his birthday, Chip gets frustrated about never having the chance to deal with cases as big as those of his role model, Sureluck Jones. He wishes for a really big and tough case—and his wish is granted in a way he would never have expected. A mysterious villain named Ivana M. Killjoy kidnaps the other Rescue Rangers, torments them, using her vast knowledge about every single Ranger, and gives Chip rhyming hints to free them. He is given time until sunset after which Ivana threatens to kill his friends.
Notable Characters
Canonical
Original
Impact on the Fandom
One may think that Rhyme & Reason, being the pioneer piece of work that it was, launched the prolific Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers fanfic writing tradition. The opposite is true: Its sheer size and quality actually intimidated the other Rangerphiles away from picking up writing. They said that if this is what CDRR fanfic is supposed to look like, there is no way they can achieve that, so it isn't even worth trying. Rhyme & Reason remained the only CDRR fanfic published until 1996 except for 9½ Chipmunks.
It was in spring 1996 while Rhyme & Reason hit the Usenet that The Robo|\|erd's series The Adventures of Gadget Hackwrench broke the spell that Rhyme & Reason had put on the fandom. Although nobody added to the series except for him, the two-parter first installment, Sizable Chances, showed the Rangerphiles that there are also other ways of writing CDRR fanfic. That said, most stories that followed it when the CDRR fanfic wave really began to roll from 1997 on were action-adventures and/or thrillers closer to Rhyme & Reason.
The late 1990s finally brought forth a number of legendary fics. Nonetheless, Rhyme & Reason beat all of them at the one-time Plato Awards in four categories including Best Story. It went on winning several all-time Golden Acorn Awards until it was taken out of the competition due to its ongoing invincibility. (See also Awards.)
Rhyme & Reason introduced the family names Maplewood for Chip and Oakmont for Dale which have long since been generally accepted as fanon and used in completely unrelated fics.
A good decade after its completion, Rhyme & Reason still managed to inspire a new meme at The Acorn Cafe: Out-of-the-ordinary occurrences of any kinds are sometimes suspected to be set up by Ivana M. Killjoy "to distract us while she kills the Rangers".
Trivia
Instead of other fanfics, Rhyme & Reason was inspired by Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Disney's Gargoyles; the author wanted CDRR to be more like the latter. The main villainess, Dr. Ivana M. Killjoy, was additionally inspired by Grand Admiral Thrawn from the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
The hometown of the Rangers in this story is San Francisco.
Awards
- Plato Awards: Best Original Villain (for Dr. Ivana M. Killjoy), Best Characterization, Best Drama, Best Story
- 2002 Golden Acorn Awards: Best All-Time Story
- 2004 Golden Acorn Awards: Best All-Time Story (tie with fish's Of Mice and Mayhem)
- 2005 Golden Acorn Awards: Best All-Time Story (tie with fish's Of Mice and Mayhem)
- 2006 Golden Acorn Awards: Best All-Time Story (tie with fish's Of Mice and Mayhem)
Rhyme & Reason did not win the 2003 Golden Acorn Award for Best All-Time Story because Of Mice and Mayhem outshone everything that year. From 2004 on, both kept tying for Best All-Time Story until they were both declared uneligible by Dr. Indy to give other works a chance.
External Links
The original release of Part I on the Usenet: first section, second section third section
The full story at the RRDatabase:
- Part I: Opening Moves
- Part II: Pawns
- Part III: Playing By The Book
- Part IV: The Enemy Unknown
- Part V: Playtime
- Part VI: Choices
- Part VII: Players In Check
- Part VIII: Endgame
- Part IX: Final Points
Indy's Ranger Museum: 2004 Golden Acorn Awards, Best All-Time Story, including an acceptance speech by Michael Demcio in which he explains why he wrote Rhyme & Reason the way he did and what inspired him